


(Un)wanted

by Rubywolf



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Confessions, F/M, Falling In Love, Heart-to-Heart, Psychological Drama, newtina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 21:52:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9568436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rubywolf/pseuds/Rubywolf
Summary: Sometimes it's the little jabs that cut the deepest, and Tina Goldstein can't get Grindelwald's comment off her mind. "You're always showing up where you're least wanted."





	

It was a conversation she wasn’t actually supposed to hear, one she would have quite awkwardly walked in on if she hadn’t heard her name come up just before pushing the door open.

  
“…hired Goldstein without even letting me interview her.”

  
“Graves, she passed 6 out of 7 trials with a score 20% higher than any other candidate. She’s fresh out of Auror training so she won’t have any bad habits yet, and she’s eager to do well. We had to get someone in quickly, you weren’t available to do the interview, and you’d have chosen her anyway.”

  
“Picquery, I don’t think-“

  
“Madame President, Graves.”

  
“Madame President, how is the rest of my team supposed to feel working with a little girl?”

  
“They’ll get over it.” Her tone was sharp. “She’ll be here any minute, and I expect you to act like a professional.”

  
“Of course, I wouldn’t do anything less, but when she proves to be a liability let it be known that this is the department I’d want her in least.”

  
Tina counted to thirty, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

 

* * *

 

Hawthorne made no bones about the fact that he wasn’t happy she’d been tasked to assist his investigation. And now that she’d been the one to apprehend the wizard charming poorly working wings onto the shoulders of his “customers”, he was- well, steaming mad didn’t quite cover it.

  
“I had him. I’ve been working this case for six months, you bust in here like a steamroller and just arrest him?”

  
“I was under the impression we were supposed to catch criminals,” Tina fired back at him.

  
“No. I am supposed to catch criminals. You’re supposed to be doing paperwork or something. Frankly, I can’t believe MACUSA’s even putting you on cases,” Hawthorne sneered.

  
Tina stepped back and drew herself up to her full height. “Well. Maybe if you did your job the right way the first time, they wouldn’t have to,” she said coolly, then turned and walked off.

  
“Stay out of my way, Goldstein,” he called after her.

 

* * *

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Goldstein will be joining the Investigative Team,” President Picquery introduced Tina to the stone-faced group of Aurors who already knew her. “After her excellent work on the Pittman case, this is a well-deserved promotion and I think she will bring a lot to the team.”

  
Tina couldnt help but smile at her new coworkers. She’d been working towards this promotion since they day she was hired at MACUSA. It represented a significant pay raise, a chance to really challenge her skills, and the prestige of working in the President’s inner circle. She’d been over the moon when Picquery had offered it to her.

  
But now, looking out at her peers, they frowned back at her, with a couple of them smiling polite smiles that didn’t reach their eyes. “Welcome to the Team,” a few of them said unenthusiastically.

  
“Thank you,” Tina replied, deflating a little.

  
Of course, she knew her reputation wasn’t entirely the greatest. She took some bold risks, ones that either failed spectacularly or succeeded spectacularly. Queenie had warned her to watch out for Prewitt, who had been assigned the task of keeping her in check. Apparently Picquery was hoping he could bring her down to earth.

  
But Mitchell Prewitt didn’t look too happy about the prospect, she noted. Well, she was used to having partners who would rather work alone. No one would dare defy the President’s orders, but she knew she’d never experience the camraderie she’d seen in some of her coworkers.

  
She’d just have to prove what she was worth.

 

* * *

 

Tina sat on the dusty floor, digging through a box of her parents’ old belongings. Somewhere in here, she knew, was the stationery set her mother had given her for Hanukkah the year before they’d died. She’d put it away after the funeral, with no one to write to and no reason to revisit the loss of their future family holidays. But now, she could think of someone she wanted to write to, and he always wrote to her on proper stationery, even if it did frequently bear the marks of having been stepped on by large paws or drooled on by some unknown beast.

  
After a good thirty minutes of searching, she finally came across her box of stationery, tied to an old leather journal with a length of ribbon. Curious, she untied the knot, set aside her box, and examined the old journal. It had belonged to her mother, and she opened it to a random page to read the entry.

  
In thin, straight handwriting, her mother described their purchase of the apartment Tina and Queenie still lived in. Tina brushed her fingers over the ink, picturing the apartment the way her mother had described what she saw.

  
She flipped forward several pages and read another entry. Her mother had just found out she was pregnant with Tina, describing her surprise and excitement despite the fact that they’d never really wanted kids.

  
Tina slapped the journal shut with a bitter frown. Graves’- well, she supposed it was really Grindelwald’s- comment still hung at the back of her mind. Always showing up where you’re least wanted. Not that she could help it, she didn’t ask to be born, or to work with this specific group of people. Of course, she knew her parents had loved her very much, had wanted her after she’d already existed, but Mercy Lewis that wasn’t the _point._

  
Tina let herself mull things over for a few minutes, before deciding that she didn’t care where she was and wasn’t wanted. Or, if she did care, she wasn’t going to let that stop her. But it still stung.

 

* * *

 

She stood in the crowd by the docks, waiting for a glimpse of a bright blue coat, her heart pounding with excitement and her stomach twisted into a knot of nervousness. Maybe she’d only imagined his affection last winter, or maybe he’d gotten back together with that woman from his past. Maybe he didn’t want her after all, but then why would he take all the trouble to come back?

  
And suddenly there he was, in a tan tweed this time instead of blue, carrying a beat up suitcase that was sure to be more than what it seemed. He set it down, studying her like he’d just come across a rare and exquisite creature. “Hello,” he said.

  
She gave him a wide smile. “Hi.” What else did you say after close to a year apart? Did you hug? Something else? Was that too much?

  
Newt looked at a loss for what to say too, then fished around in an interior pocket of his coat and handed a book to her. “The book is finally finished. I brought you your copy, as promised.”

  
“Thank you, Newt.” Tina took it and flipped through a couple pages, still smiling. “It’s wonderful. Look at your sketch of Pickett,” she admired, glancing back at him for his reaction and suddenly finding herself distracted with a tendril of smoke seeping out of his pocket. “Um, Newt? Is your coat on fire?”

  
He looked down, mortified. “Frieda!” He extinguished the smoke with a wave of his wand.

  
“What is Frieda?” Tina asked suspiciously.

  
“Um, well, she’s a Chinese Fireball.”

  
Tina stared at him. “There’s a dragon in your pocket?”

  
Newt nervously smiled what he thought was an innocent smile. “Just a small one.”

  
“Oh. Just a small dragon then.” Tina found herself smiling.

  
“Well, I had to, you see, the Fireball’s eggs are partially golden in color and really quite shiny, and the niffler caught me off guard. Knocked her right out of my hands. She hatched several weeks too early, so I’m watching out for her.”

  
Tina shook her head in disbelief, but she was still smiling. “Newt Scamander, you are the craziest man I know.”

  
As they walked from the docks towards Tina’s apartment, he caught her up on all the adventures he’d had while finishing his book, and she told him about some of the cases she’d worked since getting back on the Investigative Team. They talked the entire way, pausing only to sneak past Mrs. Esposito’s door, and throughout the rest of the afternoon until Queenie came home.

  
It wasn’t until late that evening, Newt settled in the guest room with his suitcase, Tina and Queenie crawling into their beds for the night, that Tina felt that insecurity come creeping back. What if he’d only come back to fulfill the promise? Would they really have any reason to see each other again after he left this time? What if, after all this time, he saw her in person again and changed his mind?

  
Queenie scoffed from the other bed, half asleep but still awake enough to respond to Tina’s thoughts. “Teen, it’s really not like that, and you really need to talk to him.”

“I’ve been talking to him all day, Queenie.”

  
“You know what I mean.”

  
“I can’t just… what, approach him, and say…what, exactly?”

  
Queenie yawned. “You’ll figure it out.”

  
Her sister’s breathing grew steadier and deeper, but Tina stayed awake long into the night, worrying, comforting herself, and worrying some more. It took what seemed like ages to fall asleep, but the minute she opened her eyes in the morning she was completely awake.

  
She got up and put on some coffee, listening for any sound of stirring from the guest room. She’d finished her first cup of coffee before curiosity got the better of her and she opened the door just a hair, just enough to peek in and see if he was still sleeping.

  
He was nowhere to be seen, but his case was on the floor on it’s side, lid up. He was probably feeding all his creatures, she thought. Tina crept over to the case and peered in. “Newt?”

  
A moment later, he appeared, followed by two slinky catlike creatures and a jumping, overexcited Crup. “Good morning Tina,” he smiled. “You’re welcome to come down, if you like.”

  
Tina descended the odd ladder-staircase, and reached down to scratch the dog behind it’s ears. It’s forked tail wagged madly, then it suddenly caught sight of the niffler and bounded off in pursuit. “Did you sleep well?”

  
“Yes, very well. Did you?”

  
“Yeah.” Tina yawned. “Well, maybe not as well as I usually do,” she admitted.

  
“Is everything all right?"

  
She sighed. “I’m just really good at overthinking things.”

  
“Do you want to talk about it?” Newt pulled several bottles from a cabinet and lined them up.

  
“Well….” Tina said indecisively.

  
“Take your time, breakfast will take a few minutes.” Newt pulled some raw ground meat from a cooler, then poured half a bottle of brandy and several pints of blood over it and mashed it into a foul-smelling paste.

  
Tina tried not to grimace. “Your cooking might take some getting used to,” she said, hoping beyond hope that it was a creature’s breakfast.

  
Newt laughed. “This is for Frieda. Although she probably wouldn’t mind if you wanted a taste.”

  
“No, thank you.” Tina laughed too.

  
Newt sat down next to Tina and pulled the tiny dragon from his pocket. She was a raw red color, about the size of a very skinny cat, vaguely snakelike but with tiny claws and golden spikes around her face. Newt fed her a few bites of the paste before she got too wiggly to hold still and dumped some of the paste in his lap. “Will you hold her for a minute?” he asked Tina.

  
Tina took the tiny dragon and cradled her in her arms, feeling hot puffs of breath on her arm. Newt cleaned up and brought the remaining paste back over, offering the dragon another spoonful as she snuggled in Tina’s arms.

  
“So, what are we overthinking this morning?” he questioned.

  
Tina paused. “Graves said something to me, that night we were trying to save the Obscurus,” she told him. “Well, actually, it would have been Grindelwald, but that only makes it worse because I know he would have had to pick it up from everyone I know at MACUSA.” She readjusted her grip on the struggling dragon and continued. “He said I always show up where I’m not wanted. And I know that’s a stupid thing to be upset about, because of course he wouldn’t want me there getting in between him and the Obscurus. He just kind of hit a nerve, because I’ve always gotten that impression from people, and I’ve never truly been bothered by it until he brought it up and now I see it everywhere I go. I’m starting to think he’s right.”

  
Newt thought about it for a few moments. “I don’t think he’s right. I know it’s an awful feeling, but I also don’t think it’s accurate.”

  
“Logically, I’m sure it’s not, but I’m having an awfully hard time finding examples to the contrary.”

  
"There's always somewhere you will be wanted, Tina. For example, I know not very many people share interests with me, I know they get annoyed when I carry on about the things I like to talk about. And not very many people want me around because the niffler will take their things or the nundu gets loose and wees on the furniture or something, but I know my family misses me when I'm not around, and all these creatures like having me here. It's really just a matter of finding the right people."

  
Tina thought about that for a minute. "It's just difficult when I spend all day with the wrong people. I can't just quit my job."

  
"No, but you have your sister, who I'm sure has told you what you mean to her." He paused. "And there's me, I want you."

  
Tina looked up at him just in time to see his entire face, ears and neck turn a brilliant red, mentally kicking himself as he spoke quickly towards his shoes. "I mean, that's not quite what I mean, not like that, I mean I want you around, not that I want to... well, I shouldn't say that I don't... I just mean that I like you, and I want to be around you, and, well, I missed you." He finally looked over at her to gauge her reaction.

  
“I missed you too,” she admitted with a little smile as her eyes threatened to tear up. “I was hoping you weren’t just here to drop off your book.”

  
“No, not just to give you the book. I don’t even have a thunderbird to return home this time, either.”

  
Tina laughed. “And you’re not dropping Frieda off somewhere either?”

  
“No, she’ll need to go back to her other mum, as soon as she’s big enough to not get stepped on.” Newt set the dish aside and scratched the little dragon on the chin. “Actually, though, I was kind of hoping that maybe…” he trailed off and the words seemed to stick in his throat.

  
“Maybe what?”

  
“Maybe, the next time you take a vacation, if you’d want to visit England.”

  
Tina blinked in surprise. “You want me to visit England?”

  
“Only if you want to,” Newt clarified.

  
Tina laughed. “Of course I want to! That would be… incredible,” she told him.

  
Newt smiled. “Okay.”

  
For the briefest of moments, Tina thought he was considering kissing her, when the dragon in her lap sneezed and sparks flew everywhere, redirecting their attention.

  
“Ah, sorry, she’s probably going to set your trousers on fire if she falls asleep in your lap. She’s done it to my coat at least twice now.” Newt stood up. “Would you bring her over here?” He led the way to an egg-shaped incubated habitat, and showed Tina where to tuck in the dragon.

  
“So,” Tina said, wondering what they would find to do next.

  
“So?” Newt asked.

  
“There’s coffee in the kitchen, if you’d like some.”

  
“I’d love some, thanks.”

  
And Tina led the way out of the case, unable to completely stop smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> Well this is the first thing I've ever published online! Hope you guys like it!
> 
> Based on prompt on Tumblr.
> 
> *edited formatting for readability*


End file.
